Monday, March 14, 2016

Exposure ~ Helen Dunmore

It is the 1960s, that era when I was busy out on my roller skates around the streets of Mitcham in Surrey and swapping Judy and Bunty comics with my best friend Anne. And then, amongst all the other exciting things, once a year I would be either a Rosebud, or a Buttercup, or a Lily-of-the-Valley in the annual May Queen ceremonial.

And on the subject of that, imagine my surprise when browsing the Merton Memories website, to find an archived picture of the May Queen event in 1961. Casually gazing along the rows I nearly fell of my seat when I saw myself... fourth from left, second row. not exactly paying attention.

I was really hoping there might be a glimpse of my mum in the background, sadly not, but just look at the woman centre back, head tipped to one side..you can almost here her saying 'Aaah, don't they look lovely,' can't you.

And I'm not sure what Mr Bare Chest is all about either.

So there we were, all us children with not a care in the world, blissfully unaware of this thing called The Cold War. These were the days when children were allowed to be children and not sweat the grown-up stuff but who can know what seven circles of hell our parents might have been enduring; building up a post-war life for themselves and their children after all the lost opportunities only to have such a threat hanging over them.

And it is that world of fear, suspicion and treason that Helen Dunmore explores in her latest novel Exposure.

Think about the title.

Think of a photograph, an old-fashioned one, in a dark room.

Slowly the image emerges, takes shape, the details surface, a picture forms. what was invisible but captured becomes clearer and clearer to anyone who sees it and thus does Helen Dunmore slowly and carefully expose what lies beneath, and in such a compelling way that I was glued to this book from the minute I opened it.

Simon Callington, married to Lily and with three children, works at the Admiralty whilst Lily is a teacher. One night Simon is unwittingly drawn into a web of espionage whilst doing a favour for an old friend from Cambridge days, and the family's troubles begin.

I don't want to elaborate too much for fear of spoiling the twists and turns of what was for me a splendid read, but if you read it do keep an eye out for Lily.

Lily, once Lili, has known fear and how to deal with it from a very young age. A Jewish child in pre-war Nazi Germany, who thanks to the presience and foresight of her mother has moved safely to England in 1937...

'We must think about Lili. This might be our only chance.' 'You're being hysterical Elsa. They're not interested in children; they're interested in Jewish money and Jewish businesses...We are perfectly safe...

Says Lili's father..

'If you won't think about your own child, I will.'

Replies Elsa.

When Lily finds herself about to be painted into a corner of fear and danger she acts quickly and decisively the ensure the safety of her own children and she hasn't forgotten what is required and how to do it.

There is a moment when the children hanker after being The Children Who Lived in a Barn (the novel by Eleanor Graham)...wouldn't cooking in hayboxes be lovely...

'They sound as if they belong in a book, a quite different book...'

Thinks Sally, the middle child.

And slowly the homage to 'that quite different book' started to emerge.

The father wrongfully accused...

The public disgrace...

The flee to the country and with it a new-found freedom...

The dark, cold cottage and reduced circumstances...

The local understanding and sympathy..

Even some daily scavenging for coal...

There are plenty more, and if you read the book you will find them with delight, because surely Exposure is the Cold War version of E.Nesbit's The Railway Children and the Dreyfus Affair for Grown-Ups, and with an added twist that of course I won't reveal.

To compare in this way is not to diminish the book, or slight it, it's one of my best reads of 2016 so far, as Penelope Lively suggests, and I agree...

'A marvellous piece of seamless storytelling. A triumph.'

Surely one to watch for next year's Baileys Prize long list.

But now some more Helen Dunmore reading suggestions if you would.

I came to The Siege having previously read the The Ice Road by Gillian Slovo, and just couldn't cope with another round of people eating boiled shoes..

I'm sure I read My Blue- Eyed Boy years ago...

House of Orphans, I seem to recall, did something odd at the end which I didn't like...

But apart from that, plenty more I haven't read I'm sure.

And (if you are old enough) do any of you remember being a carefree 1960's child...

Or (if you are old enough) do any of you remember being a worried 1960's adult...

Comments

Exposure ~ Helen Dunmore

It is the 1960s, that era when I was busy out on my roller skates around the streets of Mitcham in Surrey and swapping Judy and Bunty comics with my best friend Anne. And then, amongst all the other exciting things, once a year I would be either a Rosebud, or a Buttercup, or a Lily-of-the-Valley in the annual May Queen ceremonial.

And on the subject of that, imagine my surprise when browsing the Merton Memories website, to find an archived picture of the May Queen event in 1961. Casually gazing along the rows I nearly fell of my seat when I saw myself... fourth from left, second row. not exactly paying attention.

I was really hoping there might be a glimpse of my mum in the background, sadly not, but just look at the woman centre back, head tipped to one side..you can almost here her saying 'Aaah, don't they look lovely,' can't you.

And I'm not sure what Mr Bare Chest is all about either.

So there we were, all us children with not a care in the world, blissfully unaware of this thing called The Cold War. These were the days when children were allowed to be children and not sweat the grown-up stuff but who can know what seven circles of hell our parents might have been enduring; building up a post-war life for themselves and their children after all the lost opportunities only to have such a threat hanging over them.

And it is that world of fear, suspicion and treason that Helen Dunmore explores in her latest novel Exposure.

Think about the title.

Think of a photograph, an old-fashioned one, in a dark room.

Slowly the image emerges, takes shape, the details surface, a picture forms. what was invisible but captured becomes clearer and clearer to anyone who sees it and thus does Helen Dunmore slowly and carefully expose what lies beneath, and in such a compelling way that I was glued to this book from the minute I opened it.

Simon Callington, married to Lily and with three children, works at the Admiralty whilst Lily is a teacher. One night Simon is unwittingly drawn into a web of espionage whilst doing a favour for an old friend from Cambridge days, and the family's troubles begin.

I don't want to elaborate too much for fear of spoiling the twists and turns of what was for me a splendid read, but if you read it do keep an eye out for Lily.

Lily, once Lili, has known fear and how to deal with it from a very young age. A Jewish child in pre-war Nazi Germany, who thanks to the presience and foresight of her mother has moved safely to England in 1937...

'We must think about Lili. This might be our only chance.' 'You're being hysterical Elsa. They're not interested in children; they're interested in Jewish money and Jewish businesses...We are perfectly safe...

Says Lili's father..

'If you won't think about your own child, I will.'

Replies Elsa.

When Lily finds herself about to be painted into a corner of fear and danger she acts quickly and decisively the ensure the safety of her own children and she hasn't forgotten what is required and how to do it.

There is a moment when the children hanker after being The Children Who Lived in a Barn (the novel by Eleanor Graham)...wouldn't cooking in hayboxes be lovely...

'They sound as if they belong in a book, a quite different book...'

Thinks Sally, the middle child.

And slowly the homage to 'that quite different book' started to emerge.

The father wrongfully accused...

The public disgrace...

The flee to the country and with it a new-found freedom...

The dark, cold cottage and reduced circumstances...

The local understanding and sympathy..

Even some daily scavenging for coal...

There are plenty more, and if you read the book you will find them with delight, because surely Exposure is the Cold War version of E.Nesbit's The Railway Children and the Dreyfus Affair for Grown-Ups, and with an added twist that of course I won't reveal.

To compare in this way is not to diminish the book, or slight it, it's one of my best reads of 2016 so far, as Penelope Lively suggests, and I agree...

'A marvellous piece of seamless storytelling. A triumph.'

Surely one to watch for next year's Baileys Prize long list.

But now some more Helen Dunmore reading suggestions if you would.

I came to The Siege having previously read the The Ice Road by Gillian Slovo, and just couldn't cope with another round of people eating boiled shoes..

I'm sure I read My Blue- Eyed Boy years ago...

House of Orphans, I seem to recall, did something odd at the end which I didn't like...

But apart from that, plenty more I haven't read I'm sure.

And (if you are old enough) do any of you remember being a carefree 1960's child...

Or (if you are old enough) do any of you remember being a worried 1960's adult...

Constants...

Team Tolstoy

Team TolstoyA year-long shared read of War & Peace through the centenary year of Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy's death, starting on his birthday, September 9th 2010.
Everyone is welcome to board the troika and read along, meeting here on the 9th of every month to chat in comments about the book.

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